Port Orchard Woman Missing in Haiti Found Dead

Molly Hightower, a 2009 graduate of the University of Portland, is missing in Haiti. Left to right are Hightower siblings Jordan, Sean, Molly and Zach.
(Photo courtesy Hightower family)

Silverdale physician Dan Diamond boards a plane at Sea-Tac International Airport on Thursday as he heads to Haiti to give help.
(Photo courtesy KOMO TV)

Dr. Dan Diamond

Sabina Hammond of Port Orchard said this clinic run by her in-laws 15 miles from Port-au-Prince was damaged in the quake, but is being overwhelmed by people seeking medical help.
(Photo courtesy Sabina Hammond)

PORT ORCHARD - Do you have memories that you'd like to share of Molly Hightower? Please e-mail sunnews@kitsapsun.com or call (360) 792-5263.

Port Orchard native Molly Hightower, missing since an earthquake struck Haiti on Tuesday, has been found dead, according to news reports.

The 22-year-old was killed in the collapse of a building at a Port-au-Prince orphanage where she had been volunteering.

Her uncle Craig Hightower told KOMO Radio on Friday that a search crew from Virginia called Molly's parents and told them she had been found dead. She had been on the fifth floor of a seven-story building that collapsed in the quake.

Hightower's sister, Jordan, wrote of the death of Molly this morning on her Twitter account.

"We love you Molly more then you will ever know or understand. We know you are watching us and smiling your brilliant smile," she wrote shortly after reporting that her family learned Molly's body had been found.

Her alma mater, Belarmine Prepatory School in Tacoma, is honoring her this morning with an hour-and-a-half long memorial service that began at 9:30 a.m., according to a school staffer.

At 7 p.m., Chicago-based Friends of the Orphans, which supports the organization Hightower was with, will hold a prayer service for Hightower and other earthquake victims at St. Louise Church in Bellevue.

The news ended three days of waiting for the Hightower family. What they did know was that Hightower and Rachel Prusynski were finishing their day Tuesday, and had returned to their high-rise living quarters outside Port-au-Prince.

They parted to go to their rooms to freshen up for dinner — Prusynski to the seventh floor and Hightower to the fifth — when the killer quake struck.

Powerful pulses buckled the knees of the seven-story building and its floors sandwiched down to a story and a half, according to Mike Hightower, Molly's father.

Miraculously, Prusynski got out. One of her arms had been broken and she had cuts.

When Prusynski got back to the United States by medical helicopter via Guantánamo, she thought of her co-worker's family. She phoned Mike and Mary Hightower and said she'd gotten out alive, but their daughter she had worked with helping disabled orphans was missing.

For the Hightowers, a torturous period of waiting for any news began. By Thursday, they were surrounded by family members, including Molly Hightower's three siblings, Jordan, Zach and Sean.

The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post reported late Thursday that a search-and-rescue team from Fairfax County, Va., was combing over the rubble left from the building Molly Hightower was in. They had the help of a search dog, but she remained the only person missing from the building.

Her co-workers with Friends of the Orphans spent Wednesday night at the site also searching for her, according to the Post.

Dr. Dan Diamond of Silverdale is also in Port-au-Prince today. He left from SeaTac Airport on Thursday to lend a hand in the disaster-stricken nation.

Diamond contacted the Kitsap Sun late Thursday from a hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he was hoping to get three hours of sleep before boarding a chartered plane to Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Diamond will lead an experienced team from the group Medical Teams International that also consists a second doctor, a medical assistant, two registered nurses and the vice president of the nonprofit.

Their initial work, Diamond said, will be helping the victims, and then doing a needs assessment that will chart the course for Medical Teams International as it stays in Haiti in the upcoming weeks and months.

Diamond's plane to Port-au-Prince was to take off Friday morning at 4:30 a.m. Fort Lauderdale time. He said that on this visit, he anticipates staying in Haiti for two weeks.

Diamond, who is with The Doctors Clinic, has led many disaster missions. This time he's working with Medical Teams International.

A development officer with that group, Dick Frederick, said Diamond is going not knowing where he and his team will eat or sleep.

"So we take it a step at a time; that's the way it is in the business," he said. But Frederick is sure Diamond's first job will be treating the most injured and trying to stem the spread of disease.

Dr. Brian Wicks, president of the Doctors Clinic, was OK without Diamond for the next month.

"It's going to be a very intense experience and it's going to be very much appreciated," Wicks said.

A Port Orchard couple, Matthew and Sabina Hammond, are learning more about the activities of Matthew's parents, Richard and Barbara Hammond, who arrived in Haiti a day before the quake. They were not injured.